


Spirit of the Deep

by Jain



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Holidays, POV Third Person, Past Tense, ToT: Monster Mash, Trick or Treat Exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-03 18:27:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12152301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jain/pseuds/Jain
Summary: Communing with the spirits on Spirit's Eve was agreatidea. ...Right?





	Spirit of the Deep

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kadma](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kadma/gifts).



Abigail drank her spiced hot cider and tried not to sulk. She'd really been looking forward to the Spirit's Eve Festival, and now it was _raining_. The last time that had happened was 38 years ago, according to Mayor Lewis. Weird that Abigail had never noticed how perfect the weather was every Fall 27th; it was just something she'd taken for granted her entire life previous to this year.

Still, she was better off than some people. The guy who lived in the tower in Cindersap Forest, for one--he was laid up with a nasty cold. Abigail's mom had sent Abigail over with some chicken soup for him just that day. Juggling a huge container of hot soup and an umbrella had been a bit of a challenge, but the guy had been super grateful, especially considering how miserable he'd looked. And Abigail knew from experience that her mom's chicken soup made even the worst cold feel a little better.

The walk back had been nice, too, and she'd even spotted three frogs along the way, which was always fun. Only now she was stuck at home in a festival mood and with no festival to go to. She thought about inviting Sam and Sebastian over. They could make pumpkin cookies and play video games, or maybe use her spirit board. But her parents would insist that she leave the bedroom door open, despite the fact that A) she was twenty and way too old to need a chaperone, and B) Sam and Sebastian? _Too weird_. She liked both of them a lot, but not like that.

Robin was super chill compared to Abigail's parents, and Jodi was kind of the opposite of chill, but even she gave Sam his privacy and didn't worry about what he and his friends got up to in his own bedroom. There was a reason Abigail mostly spent time with her friends at their houses, not hers.

On the other hand...using her spirit board by herself actually sounded like a great idea. Now that she thought about it, she'd never used it on Spirit's Eve before. She'd always gone to the festival starting at dinner time and stayed there until she wanted to go to bed. But communing with spirits on Spirit's Eve pretty much _had_ to be extra effective, right?

She set her mug down and went over to the spirit board table, putting her hands on the planchette. She didn't have a particular question in mind; she just tried to keep herself open to any message that might come through. Open, open...

Something brushed against her left hand. She jerked away, but didn't get far--whatever it was grabbed her and held her in place. She looked down. Somehow, a large hole had opened up in the middle of her spirit board. And not a normal hole she could see through; no, this hole was like looking into _nothing_ , if nothing could have an oily sheen to it. Oh, and there was also a large tentacle coming out of the hole and now wrapped around her left wrist. She tried to pull away, but it wouldn't let go. Its tight grip was starting to feel a little painful.

"Crap!" Abigail said.

Sword, sword, where was her sword? There! Beside the bed! She stretched her free hand as far as she could to grab it and brought it down hard on the tentacle.

Her sword rebounded in a shower of sparks. _Double_ crap. Where was a pickaxe when you needed one?

Another tentacle had begun questing its way out of the hole, its tip twitching like David's nose when he was scenting the air. Abigail eyed the hole in the board speculatively. Maybe... She adjusted her grip on the sword's hilt, hovered the sword above the board, and plunged it into the hole.

It felt as though she were stabbing something so viscous that the clinging, slimy sensation transferred itself all the way up her arm. She suppressed a shudder and twisted the sword right, then left. The tentacles were unmoved: the one around her wrist still grasping her implacably, the other still nosing about. And there was a third tentacle, just emerging from the hole on the other side of her sword!

Abigail yanked the sword out again. It was dripping with a thick iridescent liquid the color of octopus ink. _Now_ what? Her sword was useless; she had no other tools in reach; she was held in place by that first tentacle. She considered shouting for help, but dismissed the idea immediately. What could her parents do in a situation like this? She'd only be putting them in danger.

The tentacle around her wrist tugged at her suddenly and purposefully. It seemed that the tentacle creature had changed its mind about crawling out of the hole. Instead, it had decided to pull her _in_.

Abigail panicked. She threw herself backwards with all her strength, reaching for the leg of her bed. But it was just too far to reach. Frantic, she tried hitting the tentacle with her sword again, and again.

It clanged off again, and again. More sparks flew, and--wait a minute. That was interesting! The rough skin of the tentacle, now that she was really paying attention to it, didn't look very much like _skin_ after all. In fact, it looked rather rock-like. Perhaps even jewel-like?

The tentacle tugged more insistently. There was no time to lose! Trying not to think too hard about what she was doing, Abigail ducked her head and bit the tentacle.

Oh! It was--it was _delicious_. Even tastier than quartz. The way the mouthful of tentacle kept wriggling as she chewed it was admittedly a bit strange, but she couldn't mind too much when it tasted like _that_.

She took another bite, and another, and another, until she'd chewed straight through the tentacle holding her wrist. She'd thought the creature might disappear back down the hole, rather than stick around while someone was eating it, but apparently it was either very determined or just too dumb to realize what was happening.

That was more than fine by her. She ate all three of the delicious tentacles, as far down as she could reach without sticking her face in that gross hole.

The shorter the tentacles got, the more confused they appeared. Rather than sniffing about or trying to grab innocent people, they held mostly still and sort of _shivered_. And then one shivered itself right back into the hole, followed by the second, and then the third.

When the last tentacle had vanished into the hole, the hole's edge began to curl in on itself slowly, and the hole became smaller and smaller until it vanished with a pop.

Abigail rapped the center of her spirit board. Solid wood again, with no indication that five seconds ago it had been a portal to somewhere very strange.

The other half of the tentacle she'd chewed through was still wrapped around her wrist like a candy bracelet. She wished she could save it for later--there was a very good chance she'd never get to eat jeweled tentacle again after this--but that didn't seem wise. So she ate it slowly, savoring every bite, and skipped brushing her teeth just this once, to keep the taste in her mouth as long as possible.


End file.
